Essie Archives | THE FRUIT COMPOTE

Feathery, Studs-y Nails

April 2, 2015

It’s been a while since I do these nail art posts. I was on a hiatus, taking a break from painting my nails due to the yellow tinge on them. Because, honestly, no matter what I do, excessive use of nail polish will make my nails turn yellow. They look unattractive, which resulted in me keep covering them. It’s an evil circle.

So, I decided to stop for a bit. Getting used to seeing my good ol’ plain nails. Not even applying OPI Nail Envy although I have to say that after a while, my nails became the way they were, brittle. That means, OPI Nail Envy is doing its work, strengthen my nails. I’m back using it again, but stayed off from the actual color.

Long story short, I was under stress and had a lot on my mind lately and one of the best ways to relieve that is to paint some talons. I bought quite a few a while back and it’s time to put them to good use.

Tutorial: Distressed Nail Art

December 30, 2014

It all started when I hauled a few nail polishes. I had a lot of ideas but I finally settled on one that I’ve been itching to do for a while. It’s called Distressed Nail Art and it’s inspired by none other, Chalkboard Nails.

I grabbed a few of my nail polishes and started to experiment a little bit on the nail wheel.

Wine-soaked Nails

November 20, 2014

I had an idea of doing gradient nails where the colors are contrasting. But then, any common contrast combination won’t be that much of a fun either, don’t you think? So I thought, why not mix a nude shade with something really dark 🙂

Pizza Saran Wrap Nails

November 7, 2014

I know, I know, the name is not exactly enticing. But, that was what le boyfriend called it. The look is created by using saran wrap. There are two ways to use this unseemly material. You can cut a piece of it, crumple it a little and use it as a sponge substitute, dabbing motion included. Second, by actually wrapping your nails in it.

I did the latter.

I was aiming for something summery and bright. Color palette for this one:

I have TATCHA on My Nails

October 24, 2014

If you happen to follow my writings (here and here) and Instagram, you’ll know that I have an affinity to TATCHA, a US-based, Japanese skincare brand that’s created based on the ancient geisha beauty rituals, found in a 200 year-old manuscript. The packaging and the presentation of the brand is breathtaking. And it’s not just some marketing gimmick, the products are actually wonderful.

Speaking of inspiration, this nail art post will be inspired by none other than TATCHA. I’ve acquired quite a few of the products recently and they are just beyond words, so beautiful. And I wanted to do something as a tribute to the brand. A nail art was the first thing that came to my mind.

The image below is one of the TATCHA’s promotional images that became the base of my inspiration.

source

Jackson Pollock Nails

October 16, 2014

About a couple of months ago, I tried a new nail art design called splatter nails. The splatter was created using none other than a humble piece of straw. I knew it was going to be messy. So, I made sure I prepared everything, including covering the surface with old newspapers to catch all the miss-fired nail polish.

Polka Dot Festival Nails

September 25, 2014

Polka dots are quite possibly the easiest nail art that anyone can master, even if you’re just a novice. You don’t have to use dotting tools, you can just use items around the house as substitute e.g. end of a bobby pin, toothpick, an unused ballpoint pen, round head pin.. Basically anything that has a round end to it, that you can make a dot with.

That being said though, I found having an actual set of dotting tools makes my nail-art life easier. It’s super affordable and an investment in itself.

For this polka dot nail art, I wanted to have something super colorful. In any nail art session, selecting color combination is always fun (sometimes stressful because I’m indecisive like that) and crucial in my book. This is the color palette I came up with: